All the recent talk about Obama engaging in class warfare against the rich makes me laugh...and it makes me angry. The rich in this country haven't had it so good since the gilded age. I'm not just talking about accumulated wealth. I'm talking about having special rights that the rest of us, whether liberal or conservative, don't have.
Here's a case in point:
In July 2010, Martin Joel Erzinger, a $1 Billion hedge fund manager working for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, was driving his Mercedes near Vail, CO when he hit a bicyclist from behind, seriously injuring him. Then he sped away without stopping, without calling the police OR calling for an ambulance. He DID, however, stop some time later...to call the Mercedes auto assistance service to report damage to his vehicle and have it towed.
Erzinger committed TWO felonies but was only charged for 2 misdemeanors because DA Hulbert said charging him with felonies would negatively affect his career. Is that right? Wouldn't that be the same for anyone? I mean, if you or I had committed the same crime, would it negatively affect our careers to be charged with 2 felonies. After all, people DO go to jail for such things. And people lose their jobs when they go to jail, right? You can read about the case below.
DA Hurlbert won't press felony charges against hit-and-run driver because it might affect his job | SummitDaily.com
In 1970, the prison population in the US was about 190,000 people. In 2008, the US had 2.2 million people in prison. Today, The Economist estimates that number stands at around 2.4 million people. That means that today, there are 12.5 TIMES as many people in prison then just 40 years ago. From which class of people do you think our gov't is sending to prison?
Ask yourself this question! Has anyone involved in the financial meltdown of 2008 gone to prision? To trial? Has there even been any criminal investigation?
How about when the Bush administration broke the law and engaged in warrantless wiretaps. They broke the law? Any consequences? The telecom companies ALSO broke the law. Congress gave them retroactive immunity.
Remember Iran Contra? Bush 41 pardoned 6 Reagan administration officials.
Ronald Reagan issued a pardon to Mark Felt, a former FBI agent, who had authorized the break-ins of homes on 9 separate occasions in a search for evidence against suspected Weatherman Underground members. They broke into their families homes, as well.
Of course, everyone remembers Ford's pardon of Nixon. It might interest everyone to know that France just convicted Jacques Chirac, the former president of France, for corruption.
What happened to America being a nation of laws and not men?
Today, I guess the powerful don't need pardons. That's because they're not prosecuted. There's no plea bargain because they're not even charged with a crime. There's not even an investigation.
There's your class warfare. Nowadays, the rich and powerful rarely get charged with serious crimes. But if they do get charged, they get pardoned for their crimes. Or maybe just a commutation of sentence like for Scooter Libby.
And what happens to the 'lower classes' who don't have powerful friends or a lot of money? Our gov't throws the book at them, and they get longer and longer prision sentences for ever more minor offenses and victimless crimes.
That's why the US has the largest prison population in the world, in both numbers, and as a percentage of the population.
For example, China, with a population of 1.3 Billion people only has a prison population of 1,600,000. The US, with less than 25% of their population, has 700,000 more people in jail.
So, please stop trying to make everyone feel pity for the wealthy in this country who are richer than ever and are paying a lower tax rate than they have in decades. That's not where the class warfare problem exists. It exists on the other end of the spectrum.
But if you don't believe me, if you ever get in trouble with the law, try telling a DA that a criminal conviction would hurt your career. See how far that gets you.
Here's a case in point:
In July 2010, Martin Joel Erzinger, a $1 Billion hedge fund manager working for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, was driving his Mercedes near Vail, CO when he hit a bicyclist from behind, seriously injuring him. Then he sped away without stopping, without calling the police OR calling for an ambulance. He DID, however, stop some time later...to call the Mercedes auto assistance service to report damage to his vehicle and have it towed.
Erzinger committed TWO felonies but was only charged for 2 misdemeanors because DA Hulbert said charging him with felonies would negatively affect his career. Is that right? Wouldn't that be the same for anyone? I mean, if you or I had committed the same crime, would it negatively affect our careers to be charged with 2 felonies. After all, people DO go to jail for such things. And people lose their jobs when they go to jail, right? You can read about the case below.
DA Hurlbert won't press felony charges against hit-and-run driver because it might affect his job | SummitDaily.com
In 1970, the prison population in the US was about 190,000 people. In 2008, the US had 2.2 million people in prison. Today, The Economist estimates that number stands at around 2.4 million people. That means that today, there are 12.5 TIMES as many people in prison then just 40 years ago. From which class of people do you think our gov't is sending to prison?
Ask yourself this question! Has anyone involved in the financial meltdown of 2008 gone to prision? To trial? Has there even been any criminal investigation?
How about when the Bush administration broke the law and engaged in warrantless wiretaps. They broke the law? Any consequences? The telecom companies ALSO broke the law. Congress gave them retroactive immunity.
Remember Iran Contra? Bush 41 pardoned 6 Reagan administration officials.
Ronald Reagan issued a pardon to Mark Felt, a former FBI agent, who had authorized the break-ins of homes on 9 separate occasions in a search for evidence against suspected Weatherman Underground members. They broke into their families homes, as well.
Of course, everyone remembers Ford's pardon of Nixon. It might interest everyone to know that France just convicted Jacques Chirac, the former president of France, for corruption.
What happened to America being a nation of laws and not men?
Today, I guess the powerful don't need pardons. That's because they're not prosecuted. There's no plea bargain because they're not even charged with a crime. There's not even an investigation.
There's your class warfare. Nowadays, the rich and powerful rarely get charged with serious crimes. But if they do get charged, they get pardoned for their crimes. Or maybe just a commutation of sentence like for Scooter Libby.
And what happens to the 'lower classes' who don't have powerful friends or a lot of money? Our gov't throws the book at them, and they get longer and longer prision sentences for ever more minor offenses and victimless crimes.
That's why the US has the largest prison population in the world, in both numbers, and as a percentage of the population.
For example, China, with a population of 1.3 Billion people only has a prison population of 1,600,000. The US, with less than 25% of their population, has 700,000 more people in jail.
So, please stop trying to make everyone feel pity for the wealthy in this country who are richer than ever and are paying a lower tax rate than they have in decades. That's not where the class warfare problem exists. It exists on the other end of the spectrum.
But if you don't believe me, if you ever get in trouble with the law, try telling a DA that a criminal conviction would hurt your career. See how far that gets you.
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